Violent crimes are sad no matter the victim, but perhaps the stories are even more disheartening when the victims are those who are deemed to be the most vulnerable, like young children, or perhaps considered most on the fringes of any involved community that would work to keep them safe. In Detroit, the bodies of four such young women were discovered burning in the trunks of cars. Now, their accused killer is being brought to justice.

Brown is already hanging out in a jail cell based on charges of mutilation of a dead body and arson, but it seems that the authorities in Sterling Heights, Michigan now have enough evidence to charge him with the actual murders as well.

When women like Renisha Landers, Demesha Hunt, Natasha Curtis, and Vernithea McCrary are murdered, there unfortunately are some who will take to newspaper editorial pages or the safe anonymity of comments on a website to declare that the victims had it coming. They may ask, how could a woman walk into a stranger’s home, knowing full well that violence could be waiting? But, such questions from men and women who did not know or love these young women who were killed do nothing to help the grieving family members left behind.

Time for some honesty and introspection into your own state of mind when it comes to matters of crime.

Do you sometimes find yourself judging the circumstances that led to a violent end instead of keeping the attention on the perpetrators who deserve our focus and anger?